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February 11, 2014

15 Months of Madness

Just a little over a week ago, Charlotte and Annabelle turned 15 months. It's not a conventional milestone age, but I feel like overnight my babies have undeniably become toddlers. They keep me constantly on my toes, and every single day they seem a little bit different from the day before.

Charlotte is my little ray of sunshine. She is rarely to be found without a smile on her face, and she has never met a stranger. She started walking at about 14 1/2 months and went from stumbling one foot after another to full on running within days.

She is also my amazing eater. Almost anything I put in front of her is met with approval, and she is a Cheezit FIEND.

Her vocabulary is starting to blossom, and she is particularly obsessed with dogs. If she's awake, she's probably chattering about something. The words we've been able to pick out so far are dog ("DA?") and ball ("BA?"). We were watching a bunch of the Superbowl commercials, and she squealed with excitement when the Anheuser-Busch beer ad with the horse and puppy came on and kept pointing and shrieking "DA? DA? DA?" It. Was. Adorable. Of course, she also pointed at a picture of a kangaroo in the German vocab book we were reading last night and shrieked "DA?", so it's a work in progress.

And when you ask her "Where's Charlotte?" she'll stick her chest out and proudly point to herself. She also points to herself in response to "Where's mama?" and "Where's dada?", but she always knows exactly where to point when you ask "Where's the dog?" Glad to know where I fall in the order of importance in her life.

At her last weight check, she had gained 2 pounds in two months and moved from the super duper 0 percentile in weight to on the chart at zero.

As you can see in the picture, one of her favorite things to do is climb into any available buckets or basket--usually bringing a book with her which she will "read" to herself. And the girl loves her some Sesame Street. We've never been a strictly anti-television household, the girls just didn't get interested in it until recently. Now, I know a pretty surefire way to get some snuggles out of this one is to put on some Big Bird and let her sit on the couch with me.

Annabelle is my wee mama's girl. I think she would pretty happily spend her entire babyhood confined to my lap if she had her way. But my little bird is beginning to spread her wings and fly. She takes a little bit of warming up, but once she knows you, she's probably going to be equally happy on your lap as on mine! She is our resident queen of the dramatics, and I'm having to learn a lesson about when to jump to her aid and when to let her work things out on her own.

She is an old soul. It's not always so easy to get a laugh out of this little enigma. I cannot wait until she can talk and tell me what she's thinking. I have a feeling Charlotte is going to be my kid with all of the crazy questions, and Annabelle is going to be certain she has all the answers.

But just when you think she might be the most serious baby to ever walk the earth, she will wrinkle her nose and throw her head back in the most glorious giggle-fit. She also loves to talk, and her favorite phrase right now is "bye-bye". It's really not a requirement that she be going anywhere. She'll throw it out any old time.

She had also gained two pounds in two months at her last doctors appointment, and she's been a great eater since then, so I'm hoping maybe she'll get on the charts at her next appointment.

She started walking a little bit before Charlotte, at 14 months, and is also sprinting around the house now. She can frequently be found carrying around her little felt knife and bread slice, which cracks us up because she looks like a tiny American Psycho. We didn't teach her that a bread and knife go together, but she always looks like she's in search of a little butter to spread!

The girls are starting to act more and more like sisters, rather than two babies who happen to orbit within the same sphere. When one is crying, the other will often offer a snack or a toy. The fight over toys that they don't want to share. They run after each other giggling and play a sort of peek a boo between the legs of the tables and chairs. They "hide" behind the lace curtains and laugh hysterically when they're "found".

As the days are getting longer and marginally sunnier, I'm really looking forward to a spring and summer of days at the park and getting out for walks around our village.

They're sleeping amazingly at night--usually 7ish to about 9:30--and down to one nap a day. I feel like we're really long past the worst of the baby days, and I am trying to fully enjoy this stage before we get to the tantrums and attitude that comes with the desire for autonomy when they get a little older. It's not as though every day is filled with butterflies and rainbows, but we've got a groove going, and I'm really digging this age.

That's a great post. I was wondering if that was a "knife" in her hand when I saw the photo, have to laugh about her walking around looking for bread to butter. She knows what's good for her. spent enough time in foreign countries with GOOD bread, just wait until she gets home. :( There will be no good bread to butter. poor thing. lol This is a great stage, aside from all the "exercise" you'll get chasing after them! Whether you want it or not. Enjoy!!

I remember 15 months being quite a turning point too- we are still really enjoying the early days of toddlerhood (T is 1 and 51/52); the vocab and general deightfulness far outweighs a bit of stubborness and the odd tantrum (.... so far...)